AMCHA - OCTOBER 15, 2015 RALLY TO SUPPORT ISRAEL AT ISRAELI UN MISSION UNITES LEFT TO RIGHT RESPONSE TO DEADLY PALESTINIAN ATTACKS

Friends:

        Called on 24-hour notice, organized by the one and only Hillary Markowitz.  Nice media turnout there, including channels 1, 2, 7 and Reuters tv.

        - Glenn Richter

       

AMCHA-COALITION FOR JEWISH CONCERNS

3700 Henry Hudson Parkway

Riverdale, NY 10463

(718) 796-4730

For Immediate Release     Contact:  Rabbi Avi Weiss, (718) 796- 4730; Glenn Richter, (212) 663-5784

RALLY TO SUPPORT ISRAEL AT ISRAELI UN MISSION UNITES LEFT TO RIGHT

RESPONSE TO DEADLY PALESTINIAN ATTACKS

            A "unity rally for Israel", called in just 24 hours and held Thursday, October 15th outside the Israel Mission to the United Nations was just that.  Some 400 persons -- left to right religiously and politically, students and adults -- stood as one in support of the Jewish state and against Palestinian terror. 

         

            The mood was both somber, reflecting the murder of seven Israelis since the beginning of October, but defiant as chants of "Am Yisrael Chai" -- "the Jewish people live!" -- broke out time and again.  Participants waved Israeli flags and held signs such as "Stop Terrorism -- Support Israel".

            The rally was organized by Amcha-Coalition for Jewish Concerns, with the assistance of schools such as S/A/R High School, Yeshiva University High School for Girls, and Yeshivat Chovevei Torah rabbinical school, and organizations such as Americans for a Safe Israel.  Rabbinic speakers spanned the spectrum from Orthodox to Conservative to Reform.  Some of the other speakers included Rabbi Joseph Potasnik, executive vice president of the New York Board of Rabbis, educator Shirona Tzeukernik, Ethiopian-Israeli Yardena Akloom, rally coordinator Hillary Markowitz, and New York City Councilmember Mark Levine, who spoke both in English and Hebrew. 

            "This is a rally of unity, a call to conscience of all people," declared Rabbi Avi Weiss, national chairman of Amcha-Coalition for Jewish Concerns.  "Absolutely nothing justifies the murder of people driving through the streets, or walking to prayer, striking people with guns and knives on public transportation, ramming a car into people waiting for a bus. 

            "In the Bible, after Cain kills Abel, God declares, 'the bloods of your brother cry out from the ground.  Today we cry out for the bloods of our brethren who have been so brutally murdered.  In the name of my children and grandchildren who live in Israel, I raise a voice of protest against the silence of the world, even our own too-silent American government.  Speaking just a few miles from the Twin Towers, we say that those who are silent are complicit." 

            As students from the S/A/R High School read out each of the names of the seven murdered Israelis, the crowd roared back, "Am yisrael chai!" ("the Jewish people live!").

            Rabbi Joseph Potasnik said, "before I came to this rally, I got a call from a Syrian Christian.  She told me, 'tell the Jews thank you for speaking out on behalf of persecuted Christians, because if the Jews wouldn't speak out for us, no one would'.  We say to those in the UN who accuse Israel of using excessive force:  there's a law here and other civilized countries:  if someone comes after you with deadly force, you have the right and responsibility to use deadly force to protect yourself.

            "There's a chair there for the Palestinians at the peace table with one condition -- that you pursue peace and not people, wanting to cut them into pieces."

            Rabbi Bruce Ginsburg of Cong. Sons of Israel of Woodmere reminded the crowd of continual incitement to violence by Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, who has said that in a future Palestinian state there will be no Jews, that "I want the Jews' filthy feet off our holy sites", that anyone who sheds blood in Jerusalem in Allah's name is a martyr.  "Can you imagine the world reaction if an Israeli prime minister would say this about any other nation?" Rabbi Ginsburg asked.

            Energized by the singing members of the Pey Daled band, the group marched to the dramatic Isaiah Peace Wall opposite the United Nations.  Carved into the Wall are the words of the biblical prophet, "They shall beat their swords into plowshares, their spears into pruning hooks.  Nation shall not lift up sword against nation.  Neither shall they make war any more."

                                        

(Below are 3 photos from the rally and Isaiah Peace Wall.  Better resolution copies available on request. )        

Here is an audio of the event!  https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B86sGl9yfinjU0pKQU13REF1SXJPX0Z1azUyMjhMTmkxYUNj/view?usp=sharing     

          

Some of the 400 at today's rally.

Rabbi Joseph Potasnik of the New York Board of Rabbis fired up the crowd.

 The rally ended with a march to the Isaiah Peace Wall, and singing led by members of the Pey Daled band.

--

Sincerely,

Robin Ticker

Activist emails sent to my list  are L'Ilui Nishmat Yisrael ben David Aryeh ob"m (Izzy - Kaplan) and Howard Chaim Grief great activists and lovers of Eretz Yisroel, Am Yisroel and the Torah. Yehi Zichronum Baruch.  May their memories serve as a blessing. 

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